


A New Family To Protect

by Hattori_Haruhi



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M, Friendship/Love, Original Character interacting with Rick's group, Slow Burn, growing up in an apocalyptic world
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-01-16 14:40:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18523609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hattori_Haruhi/pseuds/Hattori_Haruhi
Summary: Lillian never imagined that such a thing would happen, her parents were dead, being devoured right in front of her, her fate would have been the same had she not been saved by a certain family that would try to protect her from all the dangers of that new world. Now, with her old self broken and the need to survive being constant, Lillian must learn to deal with death, hunger, fear... but also how to protect her new family and the boy that is so especial to her.





	1. The End of The World

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! It's been a while since I wrote this fanfic but only now I had the courage to post :)  
> I hope you like it and sorry for any mistake, my mother language is not English but I really try my best!
> 
> The story will be told from the events of the series only now with a new character and the focus will be on how she interacts with the members of Rick's group, as well as how she will grow up with Carl and struggles to learn how to survive in this new world.

The end of the world began on a day that was supposed to be normal like all the others, it was a calm spring morning and everything seemed to be at peace, that is, until the true destiny of that day came like a bomb and exploded entirely in the face of humanity.

Lillian was being carried, carried by someone she didn’t know but who was running with all his will to far away from there, the girl's entire body was numb, motionless, not wanting to even try and make an effort to move, she had forgotten for a few seconds about how she got there, not being able to think clearly, all she knew was that she didn’t feel her body, she didn’t feel anything, it was as if her mind had become something empty, she could hear only the fast beating of her heart but even this seemed like could disappear at any moment, she didn’t even know if she was breathing, but all this didn’t matter to her, the girl was in shock, her eyes wide and without emotion, it seemed that everything was still happening there in front of her, the blood, the screams, the fear, all coming and going in front of your eyes.

Yes, the end of the world came just like a bomb.

The thirteen-year-old girl didn’t hear what the adults or what that boy said, he looked familiar, but her vision was white, blurry and full of tears that made it impossible to see his face clearly. All she could see was that moment over and over again, she could still feel the strength of her legs as she ran, the anxiety in her blue eyes, the air that had difficulty coming in and out of her lungs until finally, the shock, she thought she'd gotten it, was almost home, everything would be fine as soon as she opened the door and saw that nothing bad had happened, but the scene took place well before she imagined it, as soon as she turned the corner , in the middle of the street, what she saw had never passed through her head even in her worst nightmares, it was just too surreal, her parents, fallen to the ground and pale, their eyes wide with fear and their mouths open in attempts to scream for help, but it was too late, she could feel the cold of the bodies where she was, while people dug their stomachs and stuck their organs in their mouths, swallowing ferociously, it was just too much, the girl could only stand there, staring at the scene, frozen in that place as the tears fell from the corner of her cheeks, totally still.

‘’Mom...? Dad...? " She said more in what appeared to be a whisper, her voice broken, a knot in her throat as she tried to process what was happening right in front of her eyes.

Even with her voice being so low, it made one of them raise his head and stare at the girl, eyes curious and hungry, it got up and away from his mother's body slowly and started to go towards to her, the girl's eyes widened, that thing was coming toward her with arms outstretched and mouth open with scary groans, she just felt her heart beat stronger and blood drained from her face, being able to in the last second waking up from her trance and screaming for help, but it was too late, the hands of that thing were already very close, she would grab it and Lillian would receive the same fate as her parents.

‘’Help her! She's my friend!" She heard someone scream in between her desperate sobs.

It was very close, that thing with white, lifeless eyes, his mouth bloody with the remains of her parents was about to hold her, she felt it touch her shoulder lightly, his mouth open and glance at her neck, the girl didn’t even think of a way to defend herself, just stood there wide-eyed as she waited for her imminent fate, too frightened to move or react. But suddenly the thing was quickly pushed to the ground and a man appeared in front of her, pointing a weapon at the monster's head and hitting a bullet in the middle of his forehead.

"Hey, are you okay?" He crouched down to meet her eyes, but she didn’t answer, looked back at him in shock, lowered her head and stared at the floor with her whole body shaking in fear. 

"We have to go, Shane!" The woman nearby shrieked as she saw that the other monster that was devouring the girl's father's body began to rise and head toward them.

''Mom! We can’t leave her here!" The boy begged with his eyes at the woman who was holding him by the hand, facing the man soon after.

Shane turned to the one that staggered toward them, stared at the bodies on the floor and judging by what had happened, he soon realized that those were the parents of the girl who was horrified in front of him, she saw something terrible and he could not blame her for being paralyzed there, if he had not saved her, that girl would have received a really painful death.

"Shit!" Shane said, without thinking twice, he took the girl in his arms and motioned for them to run.

Lillian's head was on Shane's shoulder as he ran and gave orders to the people around, she could see people walking far away in a group, but that could not be people, they were staggering and weaving strange moans, besides feeling an insatiable hunger for human flesh, for some of that group bent down to devour what was left of her parents and at that moment she hid her face in the shoulder of the one who held her, trying to believe that it was just a nightmare, that she would wake any moment, but she soon realized that it was much more real than she imagined...

They arrived at a house and Shane left her on the couch, rushing to get food and other supplies in the kitchen.

‘’Carl! Go to your room and get your clothes, take what is important and put in a backpack, then bring it here." The woman said giving instructions in a tone of urgency to the boy, however, he ignored his mother's orders as he stared at the girl sitting on the couch, trembling and crying silently. The one in front of him was Lillian, a classmate of his, Carl was looking at her with concern because he had never seen her like this before, Lillian always showed up at school with a bright smile on her face, Carl didn’t know if she considered him a friend but she was funny and was always trying to talk to him, but now, that Lillian who could easily cheer anyone's day was there in front of him, completely devastated.

‘’Li...’’

‘’Carl!’’

The boy's focus was broken before he could try to comfort her and he quickly looked at his mother, who quickly sent him upstairs with her.

Lillian wanted to help but she was simply unable to move, she was there but at the same time her mind was elsewhere, she traveled in her memories to that morning where she had eaten breakfast with her parents, the scent of the pancakes made by her mother who smelled so good... Her father's affectionate eyes as he listened to her news... She remembered how she had laughed with them, how she had seen their happy faces and how she had said that she loved them ... Now she only thought that she could never do these things with them again, it was too late... Soon, the tears came down and they did not stop, sobs began to escape from her throat and when she returned to the present, she began to beg for answers.

‘’Why? Why?" She clasped her hands over her chest and cringed, asking for any God that was listening to why her parents had been taken from her that way and that cruel way, as soon as she heard the news of evacuation at school she ran home, if she had come faster would they be together now? Did they try to go after her? Did they die screaming in fear and pain as she could not see them and tell how much she loved them one last time? Anyway, it was too late...

A few minutes passed when Lori, Shane, and Carl met again in the living room carrying several bags and backpacks on their backs and arms, checking to see if they had forgotten anything, and Lori grabbed some picture frames that were on the coffee table and some shelves , Shane went to Lillian and lifted her once more in her arms, seeing that the girl was still in complete shock and they didn’t have time to try to get her back to her senses.

"Lori, open the car door, hurry!" He screamed, seeing something in the distance that made he wide his eyes, running toward the vehicle with the girl in his arms.

What he saw were the monsters that were starting to approach them gradually, starting to take hurried steps after seeing them trying to escape, Lori ran to the side of Shane and opened the back door of the car, where he put Lillian and asked Carl to put the seat belt on her as soon as they got in, they packed their suitcases in the back of the car quickly and everyone got into the car, Shane started the vehicle and sped down the street, leaving the walkers behind while the streets were deserted, no living soul seemed to have left, all fleeing to another place while that little town was being taken over by those things, and those who couldn’t get away, well, their remains should appear soon.  


Carl carefully put the seat belt on Lillian and looked her in the eyes, the girl still had fear mirrored in her blue eyes, but she seemed to be much calmer now that they were starting to get away from the danger, Carl sighed in relief and tried to give his best smile to comfort her.

‘’Hey, Lillian, it's me Carl.’’ He expected to be recognized, but even when there was no reaction he continued. ‘’Don’t worry, you'll be fine, this is my mother and this is Shane." He pointed to the occupants of the front seats and the girl finally showed that she was looking back at him carefully. "No need to be afraid, we'll take care of you, right?" He asked the woman in the passenger seat.

"Of course, we'll keep you safe, it's a promise." Lori tried to do the same as her son, but eventually let out some of her worry in her smile, that girl had just seen the corpses of her parents while those things... Lori couldn’t help but feel sorry for the girl, she almost got the same fate as her parents if it weren’t for Shane and Carl, she was alone in that world now, and Lori didn’t hesitate the moment she made the promise, Carl said that that girl was his friend, and she would do her best to keep her close and safe.  


Shane glanced in the rearview mirror at Lillian's pale face, she didn’t seem to react to Lori and Carl's words but she looked at them from time to time, seeming to be better than before, that's when he finally made a decision, they'd take care of her as long as necessary, he was a police officer after all, and could not leave a child walking alone in that chaos, not after what she saw.

Lillian stood there beside Carl as he checked all the time whether she had shifted or even blinked, trying not to push her too hard so that she would at least try to say something, before they realized it was night and they ended up stuck in a row of cars.


	2. The Beginning

Lillian couldn’t tell for sure how long she'd been in that state of shock, she just knew Carl was not leaving her side at all like Lori, the hours continued passing in that row of cars that never moved, people were starting to pull out chairs and opening the back of their cars so they could camp right there, asking each other if they knew what was happening, getting only negative responses.

Shane was still in the front seat trying to check the radio every minute to see if he got some kind of news from the army, about the situation being over control, giving himself some time he decided to get out of the car and look for Lori, Carl and Lillian, found them in the same place, Carl was playing checkers with a little girl over the open trunk of a car and beside him was Lori with her arms wrapped around Lillian's shoulders, who was still shaking even with one of Carl's coats over her.

"How is she?" Shane asked, looking at the girl, she didn’t seem to feel like talking, and her eyes were fixed on the game of checkers that was taking place in front of her.

‘’Better, but still without a word.’’ She answered, she was beginning to worry about the health of the girl, Lori didn’t know when she had eaten for the last time but believed that it had been still in the morning, what made her more worried.

Suddenly they heard a noise in the sky followed by some horns from the front cars and that was enough for Lillian to wake up from her little trance, looking up along with everyone else who was looking for the sound of helicopter propellers in the sky.

"Are we leaving soon?" Asked the girl who was playing with Carl, looking at his mother with worried eyes.

‘’I don’t know, honey. I hope so." Said the woman, who seemed to be extremely sweet and gentle since she tried to talk to Carl and Lillian several times, only receiving responses from the boy however.

"I'm hungry." Carl turned to his mother, staring at Lillian soon after seeing that the girl was looking more alert.

"I know Carl, we all are." Lori replied trying to get some reaction from the girl in her arms, a simple request for food as Carl had done would be enough for her to calm down a bit about the girl.

"Are you hungry too, Lillian?" The boy asked as he approached her, looking genuinely concerned.

Carol, the mother of the little girl who was with Carl, looked at the two children and saw that they were really starving, especially the girl who was pale and had not yet said a word, Carol thought she really was afraid of the situation.

"I'll get something for them to eat." She said quickly. "Ed likes these foods for survival, we have dehydrated food to feed a small army." She meant her husband, who stayed on the other side of the car smoking a cigarette.

"I'd be grateful." Lori was really grateful, the rest of the food they brought home was small portions and could hardly feed everyone, it certainly made her more relieved about the two children.

"No problem." Carol stepped to the other side of the car, and as she was about to open the door to get some cereal bars for Carl and Lillian, her husband stopped her as he looked at her irritably.

"Why did you tell them that?" He tried to speak quietly but still let his grave voice escape. "We don’t even know these people.''

Carol looked at the little Carl who was trying again to talk to Lillian, who just stared at him, Lori tried to encourage her but their efforts were being useless.

‘’Her children are hungry, we can give them a box.’’ She crossed her arms, not believing her husband was trying to convince her to let those children starve.

‘’This is called operational safety. How long do you think this food will last if you keep opening your fucking mouth to everyone we meet?’’

Carol looked at the floor and at her husband alternately, deciding what to do.

‘’Sorry, I wasn’t thinking’’ She then pulled away in a hoarse voice, almost crying.

Lori saw the woman walking away and soon realized what had happened.

"Carl, can you keep an eye on Lillian for now?" Lori crouched down and his son quickly nodded.

"Come and see us play Lillian." He said with a smile to her, the girl stared at him and hesitated to leave Lori, but then she stepped forward and signaled that she would follow.  


Lori then went back to the car where Shane was still trying to get some kind of radio signal.

"Are you getting something?" She leaned against the open window.

Shane scratched his chin, visibly upset.

"There's nothing." He shook his head.

"What a surprise." The woman said in disappointment.

"No, I mean, there's nothing." He caught her attention again. "The emergency broadcasting system stopped and the recording over the refugee center..." Lori stared at him. eyes wide, frightened by what she was hearing. "It's all gone, I'm going down the road, I want to take a look there." Shane then got out of the car and started to walk away, heading toward the small space between the queue of cars.

"I'll go with you." Lori volunteered, following him.

But before she could continue, Carol appeared in front of her.

"Ed must have forgotten to bring the food." The woman started taking some cereal bars out of her purse. "I found this in my purse.’’

"It's okay." Lori smiled in appreciation as she handed the bars to Carl. "Listen, do you mind staying with Carl and Lillian for a minute?"

Carol looked at her as if to say '' no problem '' and looked at Lillian and Carl with a weak smile, the boy nevertheless looked at his mother with frowning brows.

‘’Shane and I are going to take a look in the front and see if we can find someone who knows what's going on.’’ She said as she caressed and tidied Carl's hair.

‘’I want to go with you.’’

"No." She shook her head several times. "You have to stay here and take care of Lillian, we promised that we would keep her save, right?" The boy then stared at the ground before his mother laid a kiss on the top of his head.

"Hey, we'll be back before you know it." Shane came over and lightly messed up Carl's hair, which made him smile. "Okay, buddy?" You too little one, we’ll be back." He smiled at the girl next to Carl, who simply nodded.

Shane and Lori then began to advance to the front of the line of cars.

‘’Your father is nice.’’ Sophia, Carol's daughter, spoke to Carl and Lillian.

Carl looked at Lillian at once, expecting her to react badly to the word '' father '' but she didn’t seem to care, she preferred to remain quiet, didn’t want to start crying in the crowd as she was finally beginning to accept that her parents would never come back. Carl turned to Sophia and shook his head several times.

‘’Shane is not our father, my father is dead.’’ The boy whispered, trying to make Lillian not hear . ‘’And her mother and father too.’’ It hurt to say that but there was no point in hiding what happened that day, he had received word that his father had died in the hospital while Lillian had lost his parents to those "things," they would have to accept at one time or another.

At that moment, they heard something that seemed to be a kind of bombardment, Carol quickly pulled the children closer, looking up at the sky with concern as she looked ahead. Lillian noticed that there were people fighting between the cars and then they heard the sound of propellers of helicopters again, three of them flew over them and were headed toward Atlanta, Lillian felt her legs begin to give up as that image took shape in front of them, they could see from there, fire, the thunderous sound that seemed to echo from her body, the helicopters were bombing Atlanta.

‘’Carl...’’ The girl finally made the boy's simple name come out of her mouth, the same knotting in her throat as she felt like crying again, what the hell was going on? Why were they destroying the city? Was there no safe place?

Carl's eyes widened as he saw the girl at his side finally say something, even if it was just his name and in that frightening situation, he was relieved that she had simply shown a reaction but after that he didn’t know what to do , then he just hugged her, causing her face to lean on his shoulder, the girl then began to cry clearly, no longer hiding in that cold and lifeless face, she was feeling in every fiber of her body that everything was real and it was no use to remain in shock as much as she wanted, she needed to wake up. Carl didn’t let her look into the burning city and he just stood there, scared as much as she was, but standing still as he listened and supported the girl crying on his shoulder.

They stayed like this for a few minutes until Lori and Shane returned, when the mother saw Lillian in the boy's arms she felt immensely concerned, crouched down and asking what was wrong until she finally began to drop words between sobs, Lori's heart relieved almost completely, at least she seemed to be coming back to herself.

‘’We have to get out of here, the city is no longer safe and I believe things will get pretty ugly here too.’’ Shane said looking at the front drivers who kept yelling at each other. "We need to find a less crowded place, far from it." He looked at Lori and Carol, both nodded, all that those adults wanted was to find a safe place for themselves and their children.

"Are you coming Carol?" Lori asked the woman, who bit her lips in hesitation before pointing at her husband with her head.

Shane wasted no time, quickly arguing with the man about how getting out of there could keep his daughter and his wife safe, after a few minutes of seemingly harmless fights Ed eventually gave in and motioned for his family to get in the car, they would follow Shane.

And so they went in search of a safe place to stay for the time being, Lillian began to answer Carl's questions during the short trip and Lori could see on her son's face that he was starting to smile again, apparently he was as relieved as she was about the fact that Lillian is finally accepting the events of the day and striving to stand firm. After some time driving, Shane finally found something that could become something interesting to them, a quarry that was used for camps, a lot of tall trees that could hide them, fresh water, it was there, there they would start their long journey to survive.


	3. The Camp

In the first days of camp at the quarry, Lillian, Carl, Shane, and Lori shared tents while Ed forced Sophia and Carol to stay away from that family, setting their tents a little far from theirs, but despite this, Carol and Lori were friendly as Sophia, Carl and Lillian, who were beginning to become all friends. A few hours after everyone had settled in, they heard the sound of an engine rising to the quarry and soon a trailer appeared with the lights on because it was starting to get dark, as he parked an older-looking man got out of the wheel and looked at them in surprise, probably not expecting that place to be occupied, his name was Dale, and with him were two blond women, sisters, the younger one named Amy and the older one named Andrea, all three were looking for a place to camp and Shane didn’t hesitate to let them stay there with them.

Lillian believed they were good people, they didn’t seem to be wanting anything but a safe place to stay in that chaos and were willing to share their food with the members of the camp, the moment Amy and Andrea gave her a candy bar and one to Carl too, the girl felt a sense of nostalgia as if she were never going to eat something like that in her life again, but before they could devour the candy Lori stopped them and insisted that they be kept for after dinner. Lillian liked Lori, she was being extremely careful with the girl and looked a lot like her mother, no matter how the thought hurt, she was grateful for her, Shane and Carl for letting her stay with them at least until everything was over, Lillian felt safe and she was hesitant when she had to leave them even if only for a few seconds.

As the days went on she was constantly reminded that she and Carl couldn’t get away of the adults' side, because if those things appeared they probably wouldn’t have a chance, until that moment they hadn’t had any problems but Dale always stayed on top of his trailer with a binoculars, and a gun in his hands should he see anything in the vicinity.

Other survivors were joining the camp and soon it had become a small community housing those who were fleeing the streets near the quarry, the first people to be found were Glenn and T-Dog, at first Lillian was somewhat apprehensive about them but soon she discovered that they were nice and kind-hearted people, Glenn mostly tried to make a smile out of his companions' faces to lighten the mood, especially trying to play with the children. T-Dog however was quieter, but always willing to help and protect them.

The next ones to appear were the Dixon brothers, Daryl and Merle who had appeared out of nowhere through the forest and scaring half the campers, Shane let them stay, seeing they could offer food through hunting and the group was starting to get tired of eating fish. Their personalities who were not quite their strengths, Daryl barely spoke while his brother was an asshole, in Lillian's view, always making biased and sexist remarks and trying to scare her and the other kids with the things that were going on outside, but when he was trying to do something like that the other adults were always trying to push him away.

Lillian and Carl were becoming more friends each day and Shane and Lori came to act as the girl's parents, as did the rest of the camp trying their best to make the girl feel good after hearing about what she had been through. While Lillian felt that she would never be the same person as before, she also felt grateful for everything they were doing for her, all of them trying to act like they were a big family.

After a month's stay at the camp, Lillian seemed to be forgetting the horrors of the world and played with Carl and Sophia more often and started to help with the chores, she was no longer as talkative as she once was, but the older ones appreciated her attempts and they acted fondly about her, after all she was trying to handle it in her own way, Glenn quickly began to act like an older brother to the girl, since he said that Lillian was very much like his little sisters in personality, what made him develop a certain affection for her, and she for him.

Another one that caught Lillian's attention was Daryl, he was extremely quiet and he heard his brother scold him almost all day, but he just looked really cool with that crossbow and the girl couldn’t help but think that one day she could ask him to use the weapon to shoot at least once, but probably the man would just ignore her and send her back to Lori, the will didn’t seem to vanish though.

One day she was walking around the tents to put the branches on the campfire and ended up listening to the adults talking inside one of them, they were thinking of sending a group to Atlanta to get more supplies, since Glenn couldn’t bring a lot of them in his travels there alone, the girl's eyes widened in surprise, the city hadn’t been bombed? Weren’t those things still on the streets? They would send Glenn because he was quick and able to go alone, always coming back after a few days with food and other supplies, Lillian was always relieved to see him again, she didn’t want a member of her camp to receive the same death as her parents.

Of course she was worried, but she was just a child and had no power to decide anything, so the plan to send a group with Glenn to Atlanta was announced, a group that would be composed of Andrea, Morales, Jacqui, T-Dog and Merle, who couldn’t be stopped from going since Daryl had gone out to hunt for two days, she had never spoken to Morales or Jacqui before except for a few words but she hoped from the bottom of her heart that they would come back safe.

"Hey, I'm coming back soon, I always come back, you know that, right?" Glenn smiled playfully at the girl, who was looking worried when his time to go came.

The girl nodded and he messed up her hair before turning away and heading toward the way out of the quarry, Lillian returned to Lori and Carl as she feared for the safety of that group, begging to anyone who was listening, for them to come back safely and with supplies enough so they don’t have to come back anytime soon. 

The next day, she heard a strange noise coming from the radio they kept nearby, followed by a voice that said he was approaching Atlanta, Amy ran to try to speak to whoever was on the other side of the line but didn’t succeed, the radio seemed to not be working right.

"He didn’t hear me, I couldn’t warn him." She spoke quickly to Dale who was beside her, as desperate as she was to communicate with the man.

"Try to talk to him again." He replied, some campers coming up to see what was happening.

Lori, who was eating lunch with Carl and Lillian, rose quickly toward the radio as Shane took it into his hands.

‘’Hello? Are you still there?" He asked, getting anxious glances from Dale, but no answer was heard. "Here's cop Shane Walsh, the person transmitting, please respond.’’

Carl and Lillian joined Lori, seeing that she was disappointed by the failed attempt to speak to another survivor, Shane bit his lip and left the radio as disappointed as she was.

"There are others, it's not just us." Lori put her hands on her hips.

‘’We knew there would be, right? That's why we left the radio on.’’

"It's being very helpful." She said sarcastically, Shane rolled her eyes. "I've been talking about this for a week, we have to put signs on the 85 street telling people to stay out of town.’’

"People don’t know what they're getting into." Amy finished.

"We don’t have time." Shane replied.

"I think we need to find the time." Lori said.

Shane scratched his chin.

‘’It's a luxury we can’t have. We're surviving here, day after day.’’

"And who do you think we should send?" Dale asked.

‘’I'll. Give me a vehicle." Lori said at the same moment and Lillian could feel the fear that something might happen to her taking her heart.

"No one leaves alone, you know that." Shane rubbed the back of his neck and responded just as quickly.

They both stared at each other for a few seconds before Lori ducked her head.

"Yes, sir." She responded visibly irritated, starting to walk away.

Carl and Lillian tried to follow her but were stopped by Shane.

"Come on, sit down, you two." He said with a calm smile, pointing to the logs around the fire. "It's all right." With that said he went in the same direction as Lori.

They were both silent for a few seconds, but the boy couldn’t hide his uneasiness.

"Do you think mom will try to leave?" Carl finally looked at the girl next to him with startled eyes.

"I hope not..." She sounded as worried as he. "It's not safe out there.’’

‘’She looked very angry...’’ Carl stared at the floor as he thought about the discussion of his mother and Shane. ‘’ Maybe we should go after her.’’

"But Shane..." She said apprehensively.

"Come on, Lillian." He ignored the girl's response and headed toward the direction Lori and Shane had gone, with Lillian right behind.

They walked as far as the tents were set and headed toward theirs.

"Mom?" Carl asked, approaching.

At that moment Shane left the tent, playing with Lillian and Carl's hair as they passed.

"It's all right, you two, she's there." He said before he left.

Carl nodded and reached the tent door, Lillian staying in the same place.

"Hey." Lori crouched to stay about the same height as her son. "I don’t want you to worry, your mom's not going anywhere, okay?"

Carl smiled and Lori called Lillian to get closer, also telling her not to worry.

"Now you're going to finish your chores, okay?"

"Okay." Carl didn’t stop smiling, he was relieved, starting to walk away and Lillian following him.

But as soon as the girl looked back to check Lori once more, the woman sighed and stared at the floor, looking worried about something, Lillian didn’t want to intrude any more so she just followed Carl back to the camp.


	4. They are not coming back?

It had been a few hours since that man had tried to make contact through the camp radio, it had been in the morning and now it was late afternoon and yet no news of him, the adults supposed they couldn’t have done anything for the stranger since their attempts at communication were cut off by him, and instead they were preoccupied with the Atlanta group, which hadn’t returned yet, although they all agreed and were extremely insistent that they would return before dark. To try to distract them, Shane was teaching how to do knots for Carl and Lillian while Lori took off the clothes from the clothesline because the dark clouds that were beginning to spread in the sky indicated that it would rain, Lillian, however, even if she was trying to enjoy that time he had with her famil-… Well, with them. She couldn’t take her eyes off Amy, who paced impatiently.

"It's late, they should have been back by now." She was talking to herself, listening to the sound of thunder in the clouds announcing the arrival of the rain at any moment.

"Worrying will not do you any good." Dale tried to calm her down as he mended some of the engine parts of his trailer with the help of a man named Jim.

‘’Good boy ’’ Lillian heard Shane speak and quickly turned her attention to them, Carl was trying to practice the first knot he had been taught. ‘’And three, two, one, pull.’’

But Carl ended up confusing the steps and undid the knot, Lillian and Shane laughed lightly while Lori smiled seeing how much they looked like a family like that, at first it was weird to think that she, a widow, would be with her husband's best friend and that they would end up sort of '' adopting '' a little girl who had nowhere to go, but now, it was like they all had a real family again, they treated Lillian like a daughter and the girl seemed to be adjusting slowly at that idea, she was quiet and lived helping Lori and playing with Carl, who was very sweet and kind to her, always trying to cheer her up and staying almost all the time at her side because they all knew that the girl didn’t liked to be alone. Even if she felt bad sometimes when she spent a lot of time with Lori and thought that Carl could hate her because she was spending more time with his real mother than he did, but the boy didn’t care because he liked to see her happy.

‘’Do it again.’’ Shane encouraged him before smiling at the little girl. ‘’Pay attention Lillian, next will be your turn.’’

The girl nodded and began to pay more attention to what Carl was doing.

‘’Make a '' P '' on the other side, wrap around your finger.’’ Shane said pointing to parts of the rope and making gestures with his hands. ‘’Well, now tie it tightly around the finger.’’ Carl did as he was told, and finally that was beginning to take shape. "Good boy.’’

‘’Hello? Base camp?" A voice called through the radio suddenly, everyone glared at the device. "Can anybody hear me? "

‘’Base camp, here is T-Dog.’’ Dale quickly climbed up to the roof of his trailer and took the handset, as they thought that if they left it there would bring better signal. ‘’Someone can listen to me?’’

‘’Hello? Hello? The reception is very bad. Repeat. Repeat." Dale held the radio with his hands shaking and his eyes wide.

"Shane, is that you?" T-Dog asked hastily.

"It’s them?" Lori was looking at Dale with concern. Lillian felt a quick combination of relief and happiness at the voice of T-Dog, but soon it was replaced by a certain fear by the fact that the voice of the man looked desperate.

Dale held up his hand so that everyone would stay still while he tried to get the interference off the radio.

‘’We're in trouble, we're stuck in the department store.’’

At this, Shane scratched his chin and then ran a hand through his hair, worried.

‘’He said they are trapped.’’ He said to those who couldn’t hear it right because of the interference.

Lillian felt her heart pound in nervousness, Lori quickly placed one of her hands on her shoulder and the other on Carl's shoulder, trying to calm the children who became restless by the news.

‘’Geeks are everywhere. Hundreds. We're surrounded. "His voice was lightly cut off on the radio.

"T-Dog, repeat what you said, repeat." Dale was saying.

But nothing was answered, communication was cut off, and everyone stared wide-eyed at Dale, confused and frightened by what they had just heard.

"He said the department store." Lori said with her hands on her hips.

"I heard it too" Dale answered quickly.

A few seconds passed, the tension taking over the air.

"Shane..." Lori took a few steps toward the man.

"No way." He looked at her quickly, already guessing what she was going to say. "We can’t go after them. We will not risk the rest of the group, everyone knows that.’’

Lillian's eyes widened at this, were they going to let Glenn, Andrea, and the others die? As if it weren’t their problem? Like they couldn’t do anything? It was dangerous of course but they couldn’t leave them there trapped, deadlocked and frightened. It was just a very absurd thought to have and the girl knew that, Shane couldn’t be serious.

"So, let's just leave her there?" Amy asked Shane with a scowl, she was already very worried about Andrea and couldn’t believe Shane was telling her to leave her sister there to die.

"Look, Amy, I know this is not easy." He approached her as he tried to pick the right words.

‘’She offered to go, to help the rest of us.’’ Amy could feel the irritation and indignation out of her voice, Andrea was trying to get supplies for all of them and that's how they would thank her?

‘’I know. But she knew the risks, didn’t she?" Shane stared at her seriously. "Look, she's stuck, she's gone.’’

All Amy's anger turned to disbelief, her whole face taking on a tone of sadness.

"We have to deal with it." He shook his head. "We can’t do anything.’’

"She's my sister, you son of a bitch!" She replied before running toward some cars lined up in the distance.

Shane glared at Lori, who was staring at the wide-eyed man, not believing what he had just said, and finally she nodded, realizing that he wouldn’t go back on his words or his decision and ran after Amy, leaving Carl and Lillian behind.

‘’Amy?’’ She was calling for her.

Shane put her hands on his waist and took a deep breath, watching the worried children at his side, especially Lillian, who was trembling.

"Come on, everything is okay, you two." Shane approached the two children and put his hands on their heads, trying to comfort them but Lillian stood all the time staring at the floor, holding hands that trembled and listening the strong beating of her heart, this was how it would be? Would she ever see Glenn, T-Dog or Andrea again? Even Merle? Was she going to lose six of her new family in a single day as had happened to her parents? And would their real families who were there in the safety of the camp lose them forever because they decided to take a chance and go outside for them?

"Aren’t they really coming back?" Lillian asked, lifting her head so she could face Shane, her blue eyes pleading for an answer even though she already knew what he was going to answer.

The man swallowed, he knew the girl would suffer as much as the rest of them but that didn’t give him the right to lie about the reality of the facts.

"No, little one, they're gone." He answered in a low voice before facing the floor, unable to continue to stare at those incredulous eyes.

That being said, the girl nodded and strode away from him as she felt her eyes blur and start tearing, clenching her fists and swallowing sob  
s.  


‘’Lillian! Lillian wait!" Carl called after her before following her.

Shane didn’t stop them, he just stood there and received guilty looks and reproofs from everyone around him.


	5. The new guy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this one was long! I wanted to put as many interactions with different characters as I could, since Lillian is still growing to be an important member of the group and she will need several family figures to teach her various kinds of things, right?  
> Anyway, I hope you like it :)

Some time later, Lori and Carl were able to calm Lillian down and she stopped crying, but remaining fairly quiet and discouraged, they agreed that it was only a matter of time before she would recover from the news that the group would probably never come back and Lori then asked if she didn’t want to cut her hair, trying to distract her a bit and so she would be more secure and nothing could catch her, Lillian thought for a few seconds but just nodded and let Lori cut off her black hair, her hands were very much like her mother's, and it quickly reminded her of when her mother would cut her hair too, never leaving it too short because she liked long hair, Lillian now didn’t care, if that would prevent one of those things from pulling her from behind was already a great reason to get rid of him, beyond which he carried those painful memories that made her heart fill with longing. When she came back to herself, she realized that Lori had cut her hair a little below her ears, also cutting the fringe and leaving it practically on one side only.

"Okay, it's done." Lori put the finishing touches on the cut and asked Lillian to turn around so she could see the result. "You look very beautiful." Lori smiled, rearranging the fringe a little of the girl, unfortunately she couldn’t see the result for now since there was no mirror nearby.

"Really?" She asked in a low voice.

"Uh-huh." Lori's eyes widened slightly and nodded several times. "What did you think of it, Carl?" Lori turned to her son, who was playing with some twigs next to him, Lillian also turned shyly so he could speak, but not look into his eyes.

‘’It is good, I like it.’’ He replied with a smile trying to make the girl happy, Lillian felt her cheeks warm and she also smiled to herself.

"Okay, little man, now it's your turn." Lori got up and went behind Carl.

‘’What? Why?" He asked indignantly.

‘’Same reasons.’’ She responded by putting a coat on Carl's back to drop his hair and the boy just snorted. ‘’Stand still, okay?’’

Lillian was so distracted watching some other kids playing that she didn’t even notice when Shane sat down in front of them and started cleaning a shotgun.

"Wow, you look beautiful, Lillian" Shane said with a smile on his face as he stared at the girl's new cut. "Now I'm going to have to fend off any boy who tries to get close to you."

Lillian smiled back in an embarrassed way and turned her attention to Carl, she didn’t look angry anymore at least and was in a better mood.

"Honey, the longer you move, the longer it will take, so stop it, okay?" Lori would tell Carl as he kept turning his head toward Lillian while his mother tried to brush his hair.

"I'm trying." He spoke impatiently as Lori straightened his head.

‘’Well, try harder.’’

"If you think this is bad, just wait until you shave." Shane was saying as he examined the weapon in his hand. "It hurts, it's going to be the day you want your mother to cut your hair.’’

"I'll only believe it when I see it." The boy answered in disbelief.

Lillian and Lori smiled, amused at Carl's reaction.

‘’Okay, let's do this… Finish it with dignity and tomorrow I'll teach you something special.’’ Shane suggested as he wiped the barrel of his shotgun.

Carl lifted his eyes to look at Shane curiously without him shaking his head.

"I'll teach you how to catch frogs."

"I already got a frog." The boy answered quickly.

‘’I said frogs, plural. And it's an art my friend and it's not to underestimate her." Shane said with a lively grin on his face. "There are ways and means that few people know. I'll tell you my secrets.’’

"Can Lillian come too?" Carl turned to the girl.

The girl widened her eyes, processing the question.

"I... I think I'd rather stay at the camp..." She replied smiling unsteadily.

"Why?" He raised one eyebrow.

"We're girls, Carl, picking up frogs is not our thing." Lori answered for the girl.

Shane smiled, seeing the boy's confused face.

"I'm only going to offer it once, my friend. I will not repeat it.’’

"Why do we need frogs in the plural?" Carl asked after a few seconds.

‘’Have you ever eaten a frog leg?’’

‘’Ewww.’’ Carl and Lillian said together with faces of disgust.

‘’No, it's yummy!’’

"No, they're right, eww." Lori nodded.

"When we get through the last can of beans, you'll love the frog legs, miss." Shane laughed, looking at Lori. "I can already see: Shane, I think I'll eat one more, please. Please, just one.''

Lori lifted her head to face him with a smile of "You can only be joking" while Shane tried to hold back the laughter.

"Yeah, I doubt that." She answered before turning her attention to Carl.

‘’Don’t listen to her, man, you and I will be heroes. Let's feed these people.’’

Lillian couldn’t stop thinking how disgusting it would be, but really, they wouldn’t have much choice once the food was over and they could not be picky.

‘’I'd rather eat Miss Piggy. Yeah, I shouldn’t have said that." Lori said before she started laughing next to Shane.

‘’Heroes, son. Remembered in songs and legends. You and me, Shane and Carl." They both smiled at each other.

And then suddenly, a noise began to echo through the walls of the quarry in the distance, a noise that seemed to be… A car alarm?

‘’Shane, come up here!’’ Dale called from above his trailer, bringing the binoculars to his eyes.

‘’Talk to me, Dale!’’ Shane got up quickly and headed for the old man.

After some more time of noise, Lori finished Carl's cut and held his and Lillian's hand, taking them close to the others, curious about what was the approaching noise.

‘’Is it them? Are they back?" Amy asked anxiously.

Dale said it looked like a stolen car, Lori then pulled the two children closer as she tried to see what was coming.

A red car arrived at the entrance of the camp with full speed, just to park and after a few seconds revealed Glenn coming out of the driver's door with a lively and amused smile on his face.

"Oh my God, turn off that crap right away." Dale shouted at the Korean.

‘’I don’t know how to turn it off!’’

"My sister, Andrea!" Amy ran to Glenn's side.

It was a lot of screaming and noise combined, the car alarm, Glenn trying to calm everyone, Shane trying to open the hood of the car and Amy asking about Andrea, getting answers that she was okay and that she was coming back. Glenn stated that everyone was fine when the alarm went off, all except Merle. And shortly afterwards he received a scolding for being careless with that alarm and could have brought walkers there.

After his apologies, a truck also appeared at the entrance to the camp, and Glenn couldn’t help but hide his smile.

‘’Glenn!’’ Lillian let go of Lori and ran to the boy when he didn’t have so many people around him, receiving a cheerful smile before she approached.

"Hey, Lillian, how are you?" He asked looking at her from above. "Did you cut your hair? It turned out really cool!’’

‘’Thank you...’’ She replied before hugging his waist quickly. ‘’I'm glad you came back.’’

"I told you I'd come back, didn’t I?" Glenn smiled and hugged her back, also glad to be back.

The first to get out of the truck was Andrea, who rushed to hug Amy in a hurry, then Jacqui and Morales, who welcomed his family with open arms, and finally T-Dog. Lillian was happy to know that Shane was wrong and that everyone had come back safe, well, except for Merle but he wasn’t even going through her head at that time, she was just too glad to see each one of them reuniting with their families, in fact she felt a pang of sadness at being one of the only ones there who really had no one related to her by blood nearby, but then again she remembered that there was Shane, Lori, Carl and Glenn there who were willing to take care of her.

When Lillian looked back, she noticed that Lori and Carl had walked away and Shane looked at them with concern, Lillian assumed the same expression when Lori crouched in front of Carl while he seemed about to cry, the girl wanted to go there to comfort him because she knew that he too missed his father and seeing that scene of family reunion seemed to remind him again that he would never see him again, but Lillian decided to leave them alone, knowing that she herself wouldn’t know what to say.

"How did you get out of there?" Shane asked Glenn.

"A new guy got us out of there." Glenn answered while still hugging Lillian.

‘’A new guy?’’

And then Morales screamed at the truck and a man in a sheriff's uniform came out of the driver's door, his hands on his waist and avoiding facing everyone, he looked sad, sad and devastated until he lifted his head and stared wide-eyed at the sight of Shane, which instantly paralyzed with the same look of surprise, the man's eyes then turned to where Carl and Lori were, holding back his tears.

''Dad! Dad!''

The next thing she saw was Carl, that ran to hug the man who hugged him back so tightly that they almost fell to the floor as he cried and kissed his face, Lori stared at the scene wide-eyed, the man stood up, still with Carl in his arms and approached the woman, who didn’t hesitate to embrace him with all her strength.

Shane smiled at them, his eyes watering and looking at the man with happiness. Shane then approached Lillian and messed up her hair, the girl seemed more confused than ever and he couldn’t blame her, he himself was taking too long to process that someone he thought was dead was right there in front of him, alive and well, in all pieces.

That night, they all sat around the campfire to hear the story of Rick, the cop who awoke from his coma and found the world turned to hell, Carl's father, Lori's husband and Shane's best friend.

Lillian was around the fire as well and sitting between Shane and Glenn, while Rick and Lori were hugging Carl in their lap.

‘’Mom said that you were dead.’’ Carl said when his father finished the story.

Rick looked at Lori, then at Carl, and let out an understandable grin.

‘’She had reasons to believe it. Never doubt that." Rick caressed his son's face.

Rick knew that his family's doubts were understandable since Atlanta had fallen and the city where they lived was taken over by those things, but at no point did he give up hope that he would find his family again.

"Yeah, appearances don’t fool." Shane said, stroking Lillian's hair. "I could barely get them out of there.’

"I don’t even know how to thank you, Shane." Rick stared at him. "I don’t have the words.’’

‘’Shane saved Lillian too.’’ Carl said to his father and the man happened to face the girl next to Shane. ‘’She is my friend.’’

"Seriously?" Rick smiled at Carl and then at Lillian but through the faces of Lori and Shane, he knew something was wrong.

"We promised to take care of her when her parents..." Lori whispered and immediately Rick understood what had happened, looking at the girl with sadness but also comfort.

"Lillian, right?" Rick asked and the girl nodded shyly. "You can count on me too, we’ll take care of you, don’t worry." He smiled at her and Lillian smiled back.

"Thank you." She said softly.

They were also worried about how they would tell Daryl that Merle had been left behind, handcuffed to a pipe on the roof of the department store as he proved to be a danger to the group, and in a hurry to escape the shop that was just beginning to be taken, T-Dog dropped the keys of the handcuffs in a drain, Lillian didn’t like Merle but everyone there never even wanted him dead, the problem now would be to convince Daryl Dixon otherwise.

Bedtime came and Rick insisted that there would be no problem if Lillian wanted to stay with them in the tent, which she accepted after hesitating a little.

"I found you, didn’t I?" Rick was beside Carl's sleeping bag, stroking his hair.

Lillian was in a sleeping bag next to him, her back turned and pretending she was asleep.

"I love you, Dad." Carl answered.

‘’I love you, Carl.’’

Lillian was glad that Carl was reunited with his father, that was alive. But she couldn’t help but remember the nights when her parents did the same thing to her before putting her to bed. Lillian felt Carl turn on her back and the girl decided to sleep, this time for real.

The next morning...

‘’Carl, I think we're going too far...’’ 

The girl said as she followed him into the forest, a few other children behind.’’

‘’We’ll be fine, Lillian, there's nothing here. It will be better if we play in a bigger place so as not to disturb the adults." He turned to her and smiled before continuing.

"It's true, but we left the camp area..." She looked back, unable to see the tied cans around the camp to warn if anything was approaching. ‘’If something happens… ‘’ The moment Lillian turned around, she bumped into Carl, who had stopped there, standing motionless. "Carl?" No answer. "Carl? What is...’’

Lillian saw something above the boy's shoulders and widened her eyes, it was one of those things, one of those monsters, tucking his teeth into a deer's neck and tearing it’s flesh with his nails, Lillian and the other children screamed with all their might, Carl immediately took her by the hand and began to run.

"Mom!" He shouted, first and foremost another cry of desperation.

"Carl?" They heard Lori's voice immediately.

‘’Dad? Mom? Mom!" The other children shouted.

‘’Carl! Lillian!’’ After a few seconds they saw Lori and Rick together, the woman hugged them before checking to see if they were injured while Rick ran in the direction they came. ‘’Any bites? Any scratches?’’

"No." They answered.

"All right, it's okay." She said hugging them tightly, Lillian's heart still pounding and her breathing was fast.

After a few minutes, the adults came back, they probably killed that thing and somehow came back with Daryl. Lillian wanted to greet him for being happy that he had come back, but he had the crossbow and squirrels on his back, not making him too attractive to be approached, and besides, she had not yet recovered from the shock.

Quickly the news about Merle was said and a fight started, Lori remained in front of Carl and Lillian all the while Daryl shouted at Rick and Shane, the archer then drew a knife from his waist and began to attack Rick who disarmed him quickly while Shane mobilized him. After a quieter conversation, Rick announced that he would return to Atlanta to rescue Merle.

"So you and Daryl?" Is it your grand plan?" Lori asked after a while when she saw Rick wearing his uniform again, cleaned now because it had been washed by Carol.  


Rick glared at her, then turned to Glenn.

"Oh, come on." He said, turning away.

T-Dog also volunteered and Shane was already starting to panic about how many people were willing to take a chance on Merle Dixon. In addition to expressing his concerns about the early walker, since none had ever come so close to the camp and if some attacked, they would need all the people there to protect the place, Rick then said they would get weapons with their trip to Atlanta, because he had left a bag full of them fall in the middle of the street when he was attacked.

‘’You faced hell to find us.’’ Lori manifested. ‘’You just got here and now you're leaving like this?’’

"Dad, I don’t want you to go." Carl said after a little hesitation.

Lillian also didn’t understand what was happening, why was Rick so desperate to return to Atlanta and save a man who probably wanted to kill him now? Of course, there were the guns but... They could get others in some less risky way. And after what she'd seen today, she'd feel much safer with him and Glenn around, but of course that was all her selfishness talking, Carl and Lori needed him there as much as the rest of the group.

The fact was that Rick needed the bag of guns he had dropped so he could communicate with the man who saved his life shortly after waking up, without the walkie-talkie in that bag he couldn’t warn him that Atlanta was not secure and he would end up dead in an attempt to go there.

Rick moved closer to Carl, crouched down, and looked deep into his son's eyes.

‘’I need to go, okay?’’

Carl stared at him for a few seconds, but he nodded.

"Okay." He smiled before stroking his son's head. "Take care of your mother and Lillian while I'm gone, okay?"

‘’Okay.’’ He agreed again.

After all the preparations, Rick waved goodbye and promised that he would return, Glenn saying the same to Lillian with that same fun and comforting smile. It was time to go but Lillian couldn’t stop looking at Daryl who seemed to be suffering about missing his brother, she thought she understood, she tried to put herself in his place and realized that it would be the same case if it was someone from her family out there, even if Merle only served to scold his younger brother, he was still his brother and they only had each other as a family in that hell the world had become, so in a way, she sympathized with that grumpy man who didn’t seem to worry about no one but himself and his idiot brother.

Lillian thought he might yell at her, send her back crying to Lori but the girl wanted him to come back safe too, he always seemed so isolated compared to the rest of the camp, as if he didn’t belong to that place and now without Merle there, he might be feeling more alone than ever, she would be like that too, desperate for a family member if Lori and Shane hadn’t taken responsibility for her, and so did Rick now.

That's why the little girl decided to show him there was someone worried about his safety and wanted him to come back well, so she approached him slowly while Daryl was on his back rearranging his crossbow near the truck, nudging his shoulder with a little hesitation.

"What the hell do you want..." Daryl turned angrily but then his expression changed to something more confused, there was a little girl in front of him, not so little, after all she must have been more than 10 years old and he recognized her because he had already seen her around the camp, but he was still confused about why she was there.  


"I... I hope you and your brother come back safely..." She said as she stared at the floor and her voice was nervous, before Daryl could ask what this was all about. Lillian ran off to where Carl and Lori were, leaving the archer with a more confused expression, but less irritated.

He didn’t say anything else, just stepped into the back of the truck and started honking it’s horn so that they would enter soon, leaving the camp behind, everyone who was left felt the tension and fear they always felt when Glenn went out to get supplies or when the group went to Atlanta, leaving that feeling of doubt if they would get back all alive and with their goals fulfilled.

Carl noticed the face the girl was doing, an expression of concern and nervousness that he had seen several times before, Lillian was scared and worried about Glenn, Daryl, Rick, T-Dog... They all had a meaning for her and she couldn’t help but fear for their safety.

"Hey." Carl caught her attention, the girl looked at him. "You're worried, aren’t you?"

"Yes, I am." She replied with a weak smile.

"Don’t be." He said.

‘’Why not?’’

‘’Think about it, everything they've gone through so far, they survived it all, they didn’t die at all.’’ He smiled at her. ‘’I'm not even worried about my dad because I know he will come back, nothing killed him until he came to us and nothing will kill him now.’’

Lillian stared at him uncertainly, until she sighed after a few seconds.

"I hope you’re right." She responded in a flawed voice, but seeing that she still had doubts the boy held her hand to show more security, Lillian squeezed his hand back tightly, he was right, he had to be, they would all come back safe and alive.


	6. This Place Is Not Safe Anymore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A quiet night that turned into a nightmare

The sun was right in the middle of the sky indicating that it was midday, and everyone in the camp was doing something to be useful, like taking care of the food supplies or fetching clean water, for example, Dale was keeping watch over his trailer since it was better to be safe than sorry about that walker earlier, as he was facing the main road to the quarry, he heard a worried voice calling for him.

"Dale!'' The man immediately turned around ''Did you see Carl and Lillian?" Lori put a hand above her face to face him while protecting her eyes from the sun, with her other arm holding some firewood.

''Shane took them to the quarry. He and Carl kept talking about catching frogs and I think Lillian didn't want to be alone so she went with them.''

After the early morning scare, Lori was afraid to leave them alone knowing that they could try to move away from the camp again and had them stay close to Dale the whole t ime while she was out to fetch firewood, but apparently they ignored her orders, Lori turned and approached the edge of the mountain where she could see the lake that was in the middle of the place, trying to see where they were.

She saw Amy, Andrea, Carol and Jacqui washing the group's clothing as they talked, and near them finally she saw Shane, Carl, and Lillian.

"I'm not catching anything..." Carl said with a expression of dismay, staring at the water with his head down.

"Yeah, they're hiding." Shane had a bucket in his arms and tried to encourage the boy. "All submersed, smart little ones, they know something is happening, that's why we still haven't got anything.''

Lillian was farther away from them, sitting on some rocks where she could be safe if a frog jumped in her direction, while Carl and Shane had half their bodies almost entirely in the water. She didn't want to disobey Lori about being near Dale, but since they were with Shane she should be okay with it, and just watching would not hurt either.

"Let's do it the old-fashioned way." Shane stepped farther into the water, looking around while searching. "Okay, little boy, look. You're the key to it all, okay?" The boy nodded. "What I'm going to do is go after them, okay? I'm going to scare them all, they're going to jump and I'm going to drive them to your side, okay?''

''Okay.'' Carl nodded.

''Now, what you're going to do is get every frog you see, okay? Do you understand me?" He stood in front of the boy, in the water and with the bucket in his hands.

''Yes!''

"You don't want one of them to get close to Lillian, right? So I want you to get every single one of them!" Shane smiled, trying to add one more motivation to the boy.

They both turned to the girl, who had a defensive posture as if anything that jumped in her direction was a signal for her to automatically run off.

"Don't worry, I won't let any of them get close to you." The boy smiled at her, trying to show security.

''Okay... Good luck!'' She smiled back still a little apprehensive.

''That's right, boy! Are you ready?" Shane drew Carl's attention back.

''Yes!'' He replied more excitedly.

''Of course, now let me see your angry face. Grr..." Shane frowned and bared his teeth.

''Grr...'' Carl did the same, making the girl behind him laugh.

''Yes sir, you are ready.''

''I am!''

"So here we go, boy, here we go!" Shane crouched down and stared at Carl for a few seconds, both silent. The man then lightly touched the tip of the bucket in the water before thrusting it completely with speed.

He began to struggle in the water and got wet from head to toe.

''All right, boy! They are heading towards you!''

Carl and Lillian began to laugh with the desperation of Shane.

''Let's get them! Get them! They're heading toward you!" He started to swing his arms, taking the water toward Carl as he used his net to try to catch the frogs. "Get the frogs! Catch the frogs!''

They continued to try this for a few seconds until Shane stopped.

"What did you get? What have you got? "He asked curiously.

Carl pulled the net to the surface quickly, but it turned out it had nothing on it.

"Dirt." He replied, shaking the net.

Shane put his hands on his waist but kept a smile on his face. "Okay, let's start over, let's find the bucket." The three of them started laughing as the man was trying to find the bucket he'd knocked into the water.

As they tried again, Lillian faced the women by the lake, they seemed to be laughing at something but she could not tell what it was, until Carol's husband, Ed, approached and apparently said something they didn't like because they immediately closed their faces, Lillian didn't want to imagine how Sophia's father was with her and her mother, because it was none of their business as he had already spoken to the rest of the group several times, but Ed kept them isolated from almost everything and there were times he didn't even let Sophia play with her and Carl.

''Hey, Carl, Lillian!'' The girl immediately turned away from her thoughts and saw Lori approaching them with a rather serious face. ''What I told you about not leaving Dale's side?''

''But, Shane said we could get frogs, remember?'' Carl tried to justify when he was already on the surface next to Shane.

"It doesn't matter what Shane said." Lori put her hands on her waist and stared at Carl, then Lillian. "It matters what I say. Come on, come back to the camp." She ordered and they both got up. ''I will be there in a second.''

''Come on, Lillian.'' Carl called her in an annoyed tone and the girl hurried to approach him, she didn't want to have made Lori angry but they really thought that going with Shane would be no problem.

"You think she got mad at Shane?" Lillian asked the boy when they were a little too far away from the adults.

"Nah, I think she's more angry with us than with him."

''But, we didn't think there would be a problem and you heard what she said: ''It doesn't matter what Shane said '' Did they fight?''

''I don't know, adults are complicated, maybe she's just worried about my dad and is impatient with the others.''

''Yeah... Maybe.''

A few seconds passed and Lori joined them on the trail to return to the camp, both of them with sad faces as they walked side by side.

For the rest of the afternoon, Lori wouldn't let them leave her side so they kept helping the women with their clothes, until Amy and Andrea showed up with lots of fish, they could all feed everyone easily that night and Carl and Lillian were already with water in their mouths and could hardly wait for dinner, they stared at the fish as the adults thanked the girls.

''Mom, look! That's a lot of fish!" Carl exclaimed to Lori while Morales held them in a kind of chain that held them together.

"Thank you." She pulled away a little, seeing that the fish were very close to touching her.

"Oh my..." Lillian couldn't hide her admiration and when Carl touched them to feel their scales out of curiosity, she did the same.

''Yeah, wow. Where did you learn to do that?" Lori asked Amy and Andrea.

"Our father." Amy replied as she drank a bottle of water.

"Can you teach me how to do that?" Carl and Lillian asked together, quickly they looked at each other and began to laugh, followed by the adults.

"Of course, I'll teach you everything, if it isn't a problem." Amy turned to Lori.

"Well, I'm not going to think bad of it" Lori replied, still staring at the fish.

Dale then approached them and while Andrea tried to make some jokes about his fishing gear, the man remained more serious than ever and told everyone that they might have a problem at hand, pointing to a higher part in the far distance where they could see Jim digging something, Dale said he was doing it for hours under the sun and without explaining anything, Shane then decided to take satisfaction with the other adults and since Lori was going too, Carl and Lillian accompanied her.

Shane and Dale tried to convince him to stop and seeing that they would not succeed, Lori took a step forward saying that he was scaring people, especially Carl, Lillian and Sophia.

Jim looked at the children who were being hugged by Carol, saying that they didn't need to be afraid of anything.

Unsuccessful as well, Shane tried again but Jim just emphasized the idea that if he didn't do what Shane wanted, he would end up like Ed Peletier, who returned to the camp with a bloody face after beating Carol and being stopped by Shane. Eventually, Jim ended up being immobilized and told how his family had been killed by walkers, and that they were so busy devouring them that they let him escape, leaving everyone there with their eyes wide with shock. Lillian listened to the man's story attentively, reminding her of her family again, the only difference being that when she reached them, her parents were already dead.

Back at the camp, they left Jim tied to a tree as a way to prevent his actions, Lillian watched Shane giving water to the man from the corner of her eyes as she sat next to Carl, Lori, Carol and Sophia at a small table, drawing as a way of distraction.

"I'm sorry I scared your kids." Jim raised his voice to Lori, he knew Lillian was not the woman's real daughter, but she acted like it was. ''And your daughter.'' He then turned to Carol.

"You got heat stoke, no one's blaming you." Lori replied with a sympathetic smile, giving some colored pens for Carl and Lillian to continue their drawings.

"You're not scared now, are you?" Jim asked Sophia.

"No, sir." She answered rather quietly and shook her head.

Carl then glanced at the man from time to time, raising his eyes a few times to stare at him.

"Your mother is right, the sun has cooked my head." The man said, noticing the boy's eyes.

Jim then said he had a dream last night and that's why he was digging the holes, he just didn't remember the exact reason and then he made a point of telling Carl that his father would come back alive, saying that man was really tough and that nothing would stop him from returning to them.

Lori smiled at him in appreciation before turning her attention to the children's drawings.

"Okay, who wants to help me clean some fish?" Shane looked at the children and headed toward where the fish were.

''Cool, come on Lillian, Sophia!'' Carl got up and called the girls, the three then ran wildly behind Shane.

''Stay with Carol, okay?'' Lori said to the children while Carol stood up to accompany them, but they didn't even hear and then continued to follow Shane.

When the night was approaching, they released Jim to eat with the rest of the group, seeing that he was already more conscious and wasn't a danger to himself or the group, together they began to enjoy a tasty fried fish, they even let the kids repeat it a couple of times, it was all going smoothly with the adults sharing some of their stories before the end of the world, leaving Lillian's worries away from the group in Atlanta and making room for a bit of quiet and laughter, well, for a while, until they heard a horrible scream that made Lillian's heart and body paralyze on seeing Amy in the front of the trailer, a walker ripping the flesh off her arm, for a moment they all looked perplexed until they stood up and the children began to scream in despair.

"Mom!" Carl shouted in fear.

''Carl! Lillian!'' Lori brought them close to her quickly.

"Lori, come on, get down!" Shane said pointing the gun at the approaching walkers, firing several shots while the other adults kept their kids around.

They were surrounded, the dead had appeared out of nowhere and so suddenly that it took some to Lillian know what was happening, the men took up their weapons and began to attack all the walkers they could while protecting the women and children, but even so, some of them weren't so lucky to defend themselves and got killed by the dead, that were biting them and devouring their flesh.

Lillian and Carl screamed in despair as they were embraced by Lori and protected by Shane all the time.

"I'm here" Lori said to the children, holding their arms tightly. "Shane, what are we going to do? Shane?'' 

"Follow me!" He shouted.

In the midst of all that, Lillian could hear Amy's screams again and as she turned to see where the blonde was, the girl watched the scene of a walker biting Amy's neck, making her bleed everywhere, Lillian was with her eyes wide and if it wasn't for Lori pulling her and taking her close, the girl would have stood there paralyzed as she saw Amy agonizing, the next thing she saw was Andrea, who ran to her younger sister after Jim destroyed the walker's head that attacked her.

Andrea tried to stop the bleeding while Amy suffered with the pain, but she really didn't seem to know what to do, staring at her sister with tears in her eyes.

"Come on, come on, stay close." Shane was saying to Lori, who stood behind the man with Carl, Lillian, Carol, and Sophia.

Everything was in chaos, the dead devouring the people, the men shredding their heads with guns, clubs and metal bars, Shane was trying to make way for Dale's trailer, ordering those who survived to follow him.

"Right in front of you, Shane!" Lori screamed and Shane pulled the trigger against an approaching walker.

Amidst the confusion and desperation to get to the trailer, Lillian heard familiar voices and immediately saw Rick, Daryl, T-Dog and Glenn walking through the trees and beginning to shoot the dead in the same way.

''Honey! Carl! Honey!" Rick screamed for his family as he hit bullets in the heads of the monsters.

"Lillian!" Glenn shouted, looking everywhere for the little girl.

After a few minutes, with their help, all the walkers seemed to be truly dead, and the moment Rick saw Carl and Lori, they could not contain their tears of happiness.

''Dad!'' Carl ran to his father, who hugged him with all his might.

''Carl!'' The man lifted him up, when he heard the screams coming from the quarry when they were coming, he thought of the worst, he was so afraid that something could have happened to his family soon after finding them, and worse, the moment he had walked away, he knew he couldn't bear the fact that his family would have died there because he was not around to protect them, but his fears quickly disappeared when he saw his wife and son alive.

''Glenn!'' Lillian pulled away from Lori and ran to the Korean, hugging his waist tightly as she tried not to shed her frightened tears.

''Lillian!'' Glenn hugged her back at the same moment, feeling that he could start crying at any moment too.

T-Dog and Daryl kept looking around for more walkers, but it seemed like nothing else was coming.

Lillian looked around as she was still clinging to Glenn, afraid that he might disappear or leave her alone, her eyes still shed tears. She saw Andrea holding the bloodied body of her younger sister who could not say anything and Andrea was so emotionally unstable that all she could say was Amy's name, as she ran her blood-stained hands over her face and hair until Amy could no longer handle the pain and stopped breathing completely, closing her eyes soon after.

The girl immediately hid her face again, letting the tears fall desperately after what she had seen, and Glenn only managed to hold her tighter, feeling as sad as she as he looked around and looked at more and more bodies of walkers and corpses of camp members.

Carl did the same with his father and Sophia with his mother, crying and mourning the losses of that night with all their forces and Lori immediately fell to its knees when seeing Andrea with the body of Amy.

''Amy! Amy!" Andrea screamed as the survivors watched all the dead fallen on the floor.


	7. The First Farewells

The group stood there all night long, trying to recover slowly from the tragic events as they prepared to ''clean'' the camp, a term Lillian never thought would be used after that kind of situation and when they realized it was already dawn, Glenn was forced to part with the girl in order to help with the task, leaving her under the care of Lori and Carl.

Carl was sad and still too traumatized to say many words toward her so the two just watched the adults pacing for a while as they dragged bodies, and no matter how Lillian wanted to look away she noticed that this was what the world had become, her parents were just the beginning and she would probably continue to see people dying for those monsters while they could still walk, leaving her with no choice but to start accepting those facts and becoming stronger psychologically.

But then, all those thoughts faded when she thought about the possibility of one day watching Carl, or Lori, or Glenn's death, people who were taking care of her and who had become so important, she swallowed, losing them would mean the real end of the world to her, and that feeling only grew stronger when she noticed Andrea still beside Amy's body, her hands covered with dried blood were entwined and the woman didn’t move, just looking at her sister's body with a profound sadness and stern expression, still lingering to believe Amy was no longer among the living.

Lori went to her and Lillian could see that she was trying to make the reality visible to Andrea, Amy had been bitten and would not come back as the Amy that all of them had known, they needed to take her away from there before it was too late. But the blonde remained motionless and unresponsive, Lori then moved away again, giving her a little more time.

Lillian realized she wouldn’t be respectful to Amy or Andrea if she continued to watch the scene so she moved her eyes to another area of the camp, where she saw Daryl putting a pickaxe right in the head of one of the walkers from last night, Glenn appeared soon then with T-Dog to throw the body to the fire.

"You don’t need to look if you don’t want to, Lillian." Glenn said as he noticed the little girl's eyes watching him.

She shook her head, her expression serious.

"She better watch." Daryl commented to Glenn. "If she doesn’t want to turn into food like these others." He then stabbed the pickaxe into the head of other one of last night's victims. 

"She's just a child, man." The Korean looked at him reprovingly.

‘’And she will die if she doesn’t learn how to take care of herself.’’ Daryl turned to the girl. ‘’You will not have someone to protect you all the time, you have to learn things like that.’’ He withdrew the pickaxe from the corpse's head and left it for Glenn and T-Dog to fire at the campfire, heading toward some other bodies nearby. ‘’Always in the head girl, always in the head.’’ He passed by her and continued to work on his task.

He and Morales then started dragging one of the bodies of one of the victims toward the campfire and Lillian didn’t want to believe they were taking a person who had been with them to the same fate as those monsters, as if there was no difference at all, it was there that Glenn intervened.

‘’Hey, what are you doing? The fire is for the geeks." He sounded indignant and at the same time swallowing all his sadness. "Our people go there." Glenn pointed to the holes being dug to bury his old campmates. 

‘’What difference does? They are all infected. "Daryl said, not paying much attention to him and continuing to drag the body into the fire.

"Our people go there!" Glenn repeated staring the man straight in the eye, causing them to stop midway. "We are not going to burn them!" He shouted, causing Lillian to snap her eyes wide open while listening to the pain that came with his words. "We are going to bury them, understand?"

Daryl looked him up and down, as if he were processing what he should do about what he had just heard, should he be angry at the boy's audacity? Or your stupidity and sensitivity? That was when he faced Lillian, the little girl was behind the Korean and was watching the scene with a look as sad and indignant as his, as if it were her own appeal. Daryl finally sighed and bent down to drag the body into the row Glenn had indicated and Morales didn’t refuse to help him.

‘’A walker caught him! A walker bit Jim!" The girl almost immediately heard Jacqui's voice, which caused the group to begin to circle the man and Daryl asked him to show the bite, with the pickaxe in his hands almost threatening Jim.

Surrounded, Jim took a shovel in case anyone tried to approach and Lillian was quickly taken back by Shane and Rick, paralyzed and wide-eyed in surprise and fear when she saw T-Dog holding the man in the back despite his repeated responses that he was fine and Daryl lifted his shirt, revealing the very obvious bite in the middle of his thorax.

"I'm fine, I'm fine…" He repeated, Lillian's body shook when she saw the bite and looked terrified at the man as she stood behind the adults. T-Dog and Daryl pulled away and the whole group stared at him in horror.

Pale, sweaty, and heavy breathing Jim could not get away, but the girl couldn’t imagine what they would do with him, would they kill him? Right there? He had been bitten but... He was still alive!

Jim was placed near the trailer while the adults had some sort of discussion about what to do and Lillian could just sit next to Carl while he looked as concerned as she with the fate that would be decided for the man, both shouldn’t be there but they decided to stay anyway, and then the girl noticed the quick glances that Daryl looked toward Jim and she realized that something was wrong, because soon after he started running towards the man with the pickaxe in hands, and would have hit him if it wasn’t for Rick, who put a gun right behind his head.

"We don’t kill the living." He said in a steady voice.

Shane stepped in front of Jim and Daryl lowered the pickaxe, saying how much Rick's speech was funny since he was pointing a gun at him, but Daryl knew he couldn’t beat them because they were a great duo even though they didn’t agree with the same things sometimes, Lillian looked at Daryl in surprise as he left the place quickly, thinking about what he had just done and how much that was inhuman, Rick then said he would take Jim to a safer location and more precisely, a place where Daryl could not touch him.

Lillian didn’t know what else to do, she didn’t know what the adults had decided and she felt that she was very useless as a child, she was 13 but there she was as if she was less than 10 and they would never let her listen to the meetings, at least for now, all she could do was sit down with Carl and the other children and wait for a decision to be made, both for Jim and Amy that the girl knew that was also a security risk after all, at any moment she could return and if Andrea don’t do anything... It was then that she heard a shot and immediately ran to where the sound had come, arriving there she saw Andrea holding the body of Amy, who now had a hole in her head and in this way, she would not move again and would not hurt anyone, the girl felt the wave of sadness go through her body again and began to mourn once again the death of Amy with the rest of the group.

Later, Lori remained her arms wrapped around the shoulders of Lillian and Carl as the group watched the burial of several former campmates, including Amy, who had been covered in cloth and was being buried by Andrea, who insisted on not needing anyone's help, it was a horrible thing to see, and Lori and Lillian already let tears of mourning fill their eyes, but the woman swallowed them and the girl tried to stay strong by her example. Finally, as they were returning to camp, the Grimes family stopped halfway and Lillian stayed a little far away from them, not wanting to meddle in familiar matters, but she could hear Carl asking if they were safe now, since they were together.

‘’I'm not leaving again, I promise you that. I will not go for anything." Rick crouched to be able to look at his son’s eyes and the girl realized that he was sorry he'd left his family in the camp with little protection, Carl just nodded and swallowed some frightened tears before leaving Lori and Rick behind so they could discuss something, the boy then asked Lillian to stay with him.

‘’My father will not leave us again.’’ He said as they followed the path. ‘’He made a promise, he will protect us.’’

Lillian noticed that the boy seemed to want to convince himself more than to make his ideas explicit to her.

"You're right, he'll never leave you and your mother alone again." She tried to comfort him.

"I was so scared, Lillian, it was not just the walkers, I... I didn’t think I would see my father again, just when he had found us..." His voice was interrupted by a few sobs and tears were about to fall from his eyes.

‘’I know… But he came back to save us, didn’t he?’’ The girl smiled weakly. ‘’He arrived just in time and thanks to him we are still alive.’’

"But what if he hadn’t gone? Maybe everyone would still be alive...’’

‘’His choice can not be undone Carl...’’

"And I don’t even know if it was the right or wrong choice." The boy ran his hand through his eyes, trying to make the tears fade.

"I don’t think we'll ever know..." She replied. "But he's here now... So I guess you should focus on that..."

The boy glanced in her direction and nodded a few times before returning to the camp.

When the night was approaching, everyone gathered around the campfire, but without stories or even words being said. Andrea was sleeping on a blanket in a chair and Lillian sometimes looked towards her and watched her bloody clothes, she should be exhausted.

"I've been thinking about Rick's plan..." Shane stepped closer and joined them, catching everyone's attention.

Rick heard what the partner was discussing and crouched between Lillian and Carl.

"Look, there's no... no guarantee." The man continued, trying to find the right words. "Anyway, I'll be the first to admit it... I've known this man for a long time." He stared at Rick. "I trust his instincts and I think the most important thing is that we need to be together.’’

Lillian and Carl looked at each other, before raising their heads to face the man again, they were probably talking about the plan to leave the quarry, which they had only heard through Lori.

‘’Then, those who agree, we'll leave as soon as the sun rise. All right?’’

The girl didn’t know very well what they were thinking of doing or where they would go but it was not like she had any choice but to follow the Grimes and Shane wherever they went, that place had become their home but it was no longer safe, the most important thing was to stay with her new family now.

That night she couldn’t sleep, so she stood outside the tent a little, telling Carl that she needed to be alone, she was shaking with anxiety at what would happen the next morning and was trying to calm down, but she didn’t even know where they were going, who would go with them and if this place would be safe, which made the anxiety and insecurity increase even more.

She looked around and everything was so quiet, but probably everyone should be as insecure and frightened about it as she was, some might not even be able to sleep either. Her eyes were then taken to the trailer and she could see Glenn on the roof, doing surveillance it seemed, and since she was not sleepy, she decided to go to him hoping he could calm her down a bit.

As the girl climbed the stairs of the trailer she could hear the groans of pain that came from inside, Jim was suffering from a terrible fever and needed help urgently, the problem was that no one knew what to do to help him improve.

‘’What are you doing here, Lillian? You should be sleeping." The Korean spoke as soon as the little girl finished climbing, his voice being taken by surprise to see her there.

"I can’t." She spoke in a low voice.

He sighed.

‘’I don’t think I can do it either.’’

The girl then sat in a chair next to him, lowering her head.

"Are you coming with us?" She asked with a certain apprehension of a negative answer.

"Yes, I have nowhere else to go." He smiled slightly, but Lillian felt a pang of pain coming from his expression. "I think you are going to have to put up with me for a while longer.’’

The girl smiled, shaking her head, he was trying to increase her mood as he always did.

"It’s all right, it's funny to have you around." She laughed softly.

‘’I’m glad you think so.’’ Glenn messed her hair a little. "And I also have to keep you safe, right?"

Lillian almost immediately closed her face.

"I hope not to be a nuisance." She said, everyone was so willing to take care of her, but why? She knew she was totally defenseless, but she couldn’t let them risk it, she would never forgive herself if any of them died trying to protect her.

‘’You are not a nuisance at all.’’ He crouched down to stand at her height, a comforting smile on his face. ‘’If someone wants to protect you, it's because that person cares about you, so just let this person do it, okay?’’

The girl nodded after a few seconds, she hated to admit to herself that the only way to stay safe was to let others protect her, even when they themselves were in danger.

"It's my turn to watch." They heard a voice, and as they turned toward it they found Daryl climbing the stairs.

"Okay..." Glenn stood up and started to pull the lane that held the gun to his body. "If you want to get going, Lillian, I'll meet you downstairs."

The girl nodded and started walking toward the stairs, until she stopped halfway alongside Daryl and started to stare at him.

"What is it?" He asked in a rather aggressive way, seeing the little girl's blue eyes looking at him.

"What happened to your brother?" She asked, even though she knew she might receive a rude, frightening response back, she had noticed that Merle had not come back with them but had no opportunity to question him about this without him having a pickaxe in his hand piercing the heads of the dead.

Daryl stared at the little girl back as if he was processing the question and wondering why she cared.

"He is gone, as you all wanted." The man responded in a straight and harsh manner, then glanced at Glenn, who seemed ready to take Lillian away from him as quickly as possible before he say anything too aggressive.

"I'm sorry to hear that..." She bowed her head in dismay, not at Merle but at the man next to her, who seemed genuinely affected by his brother's absence. "And what are you going to do now?’’

Daryl snorted.

‘’I'll follow your plan for now. Unless your two dads want to leave me behind. "He said, seemingly referring to Shane and Rick.

The girl shook her head a few times, still staring into his eyes.

"I don’t think they would do that, I think it's safer if you stay with us instead of being alone and they should think so too." She smiled and Daryl's eyes widened slightly in surprise with the little girl's words, was she worrying about him? Not that she had not shown this before when he returned to Atlanta but... Why was that little girl saying those things? He had never even talked to her for more than 10 seconds and knew full well of his ability to scare kids with any movement, so why the hell was she bothering to worry about him?

"Come on, Lillian." Glenn appeared beside her as he realized that Daryl had been motionless, processing Lillian's speech.

‘’Okay.’’ She said, starting to follow him before turning to the man one last time. ‘’Good night.’’ The girl tried to cheer him up and then came down from the trailer.

After the conversation she finally decided to sleep after separating from Glenn, since she needed to rest because the next morning they would be arranging and storing everything.

Not that she had much to keep, most of the clothes she was wearing were borrowed from Carl and Sophia, as well as from other families who were kind enough to give her a few pieces of clothing since she never got into her house to get anything.

After everyone was almost ready to leave, they gathered to discuss the details of the plan, it was when Morales came forward and said that he and his family were not going with them because they wanted to find their family in Atlanta, leaving the girl terribly worried about their security, wondering if they could survive alone, and tears began to take her eyes because she knew she would miss that family.

Carl was starting to cry beside her too, and Lori took a step forward to thank them and hug them after Shane and Rick handed a gun and ammunition to Morales. Lillian and Carl followed her and hugged their two friends who were leaving with all their strength, Sophia joined them too, everyone saying goodbye. And finally, Eliza Morales gave them one of her dolls as a gift to be remembered. Sophia hugged the toy and Lillian just watched, deciding she would need the doll more than she did.

Everyone in the group then got into their respective vehicles and one by one they started to go down the quarry where they had lived together for some time, the Morales family took another path when they reached the street and Carl and Lillian watched them waving through the window, they did the same until they continued to follow the trailer that was in the lead while Glenn was in the passenger seat checking a map and Jacqui was taking care of Jim in the back.

Traveling hours passed in silence and Lillian saw how empty the world had become and could not even see animals in the forest, Sophia and Carol were in the car with them and Lillian could not help but wonder what they could be feeling about Ed's death.

At one point they had to stop because Dale's trailer had a motor problem, the kids were left in the car while Rick checked Jim's situation and Shane and T-Dog went to a nearby gas station hoping to find something for engine repair.

And then, after a while she saw Shane and Rick dragging Jim out of the trailer toward the trees and she, Carl and Sophia couldn’t stand put and ran out of the car to see what was happening, they were going to leave him there, because he couldn’t take it any longer and he had already made his decision, everyone approached the man who seemed to be delirious and at the same time with the greatest certainty in the world.

One by one they began to say their farewells and Glenn took off his cap as a form of respect, placing his arm over one of Lillian's shoulders, which he felt would begin to cry at any moment. Jim refused the gun Rick offered him, and from that moment the little girl knew that his decision was made. In the end, she just managed to nod at him as Jim smiled at the little girl and then Glenn by his side, the Korean did the same as Lillian and together they turned their backs, swallowing their tears, the girl looked slightly behind a last time, watching Daryl say goodbye to the man through a look and a nod, before turning his back and following them.

When they got back to the car, Lillian joined Carl and Sophia at the window, who were looking at the man one last time before they continued on the road.

The group arrived the CDC as it was approaching nightfall and everyone got out of the car with guns in hand, the children were among the adults for safety reasons and Lillian couldn’t help but smell death and hear the sound of flying flies about the bodies around the building, which already seemed to be decomposing for some time. They covered their noses as they crossed the road to the CDC and Lori kept Carl and Lillian close at all times, they couldn’t make a sound and they coughed softly from the contaminated air as they continued on and more and more bodies appeared, all actually dead apparently at least.

The doors were closed, Shane and Rick tried to force them but without success they began to beat them.

‘’Walkers!’’ Daryl shouted seeing one of the monsters going slowly towards them, hitting an arrow in his head, probably they were being attracted by the noise. ‘’You brought us to a graveyard!’’ He started yelling at Rick.

Everyone started arguing about getting out of there as quickly as possible before it was too dark but the complications only showed up more when the gas was running out and they didn’t know a near destination, Lori was already beginning to pull Carl and Lillian towards the cars with the others when Rick screamed that one of the cameras had moved, and then it didn’t matter what Shane or the others said about not having anyone there, Rick just kept knocking on the door with all his might, begging the non-existent to let him in.

‘’Please help us, we have women, children, we don’t have food...’’ He said towards the camera ‘’We're running low on gas, we have nowhere to go!’’

More walkers began to appear and Lillian no longer knew if they would get a chance to get to the cars safely, it was getting too dark and bumping into one of the monsters would be easy.

‘’If you don’t let us in, you'll be killing us! Please! "Rick shouted as he kicked the door and Lori tried to persuade him to leave before it was too late.

And then, as Shane was already dragging him away, Lillian saw a blinding white light that formed when the door was opened.

**Author's Note:**

> Did you like it? I hope so!  
> Thanks for reading and see you in the next chapter!


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